2017 Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Science® Awards Competition Winner

Honor Award - Small Projects

Scottsdale Booster Pump Station 71

Entrant: City of Scottsdale & GHD, Inc.
Engineer in Charge: Bill Roberts, P.E., BCEE
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
Media Contact: Bill Roberts, P.E., BCEE, GHD, Inc.

Entrant Profile

GHD is one of the world's leading professional services companies operating in the global markets of water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings, and transportation. Privately owned by our people, we deliver engineering, environmental and construction services to public and private sector clients across five continents and the Pacific region. Committed to creating lasting community benefit, we connect the knowledge, skill and experience of our 8500 people with innovative practices, technical capabilities and robust systems.

Locally, we provide water and wastewater environmental and civil engineering, operations and maintenance, and construction administration and inspection services throughout Arizona. GHD is a "C" Corporation, is registered with the Arizona Corporation Commission (#F-1496972-0) and Board of Technical Registration (#15726, #11116), and holds an Arizona Class A Contractor's License (ROC #264121). We provide local, personalized customer service, with the ability to draw on diverse specialist skills and resources when needed.

Role of Entrant

GHD served as Prime Design Consultant and our team provided the following services.

Steady State and Transient Modeling
Booster Station and Waterline Design
Water Feature Pump Design
Project Management
Post Design Services
Survey Services
Public Outreach Support

Role of Other Consultants

Several firms contributed their expertise to the project and are responsible for its success. DWL Architects defined the project's concept through renderings and architectural drawings. The project's electrical, instrumentation, and controls were designed by Delta Systems Engineering. Logan Simpson provided landscape design, and Nabar, Stanley, Brown supported GHD and DWL's unique designs through structural engineering. MGC Contractors installed the improvements.

Project Description

Integrated Approach

The Scottsdale Booster Pump Station 71 facility incorporated a new well as part of a superfund site. The well discharges TCE contaminated groundwater to an off-site treatment facility. This cleanup effort improves public health and contributes to the sustainability of groundwater supplies.

Repurposing of the existing building on the property represents a sustainable land use. The building was originally used as a fire station and later converted to an EMT facility. Improved parking allowed the City to move its Aquatics Department into the building.

The equipment building provides both protection and noise abatement. A high percentage of pervious ground cover was used on the project, which reduces drainage runoff and heat island effects by replacing an impervious parking lot. The use of native plants as ground cover also decreases irrigation demands.

An on-site odor control system removes odors from the City's wastewater system. This air quality improvement has been well received by local residence and business owners.

Quality and User Satisfaction

This project exemplifies how a City can maximize the value of infrastructure projects for public benefit. The facility provides reliable water service to residents and meets legal obligations for pumping contaminated groundwater. GHD's design provides other environmental, economic, and community benefits, including an odor control facility, enhanced value of City land, integrated architectural design, and completion of streetscape improvements.

The schedule was accelerated by creating and constructing multiple design packages, and costs were reduced by re-using equipment and components. Constant communication throughout the project produced a product that exceeded the City's expectations.

The City's level of satisfaction is documented in the following quote:

"The GHD Team exceeded the City's expectations in providing excellent design and project management services on the Booster Pump Station 71 project. They proactively addressed stakeholder concerns while providing a technically excellent design, on time and within our allocated budget. As the owner, we are very satisfied with the work GHD has performed."

Originality and Innovation

A unique challenge of the Pump Station 71 project was meeting the City's many operational and land use goals. The project successfully integrated all of the following uses:

Booster Station
Groundwater Well
Superfund Remediation
Wastewater Odor Control
EMT Dispatch
City Office and Parking Lot

An expedited schedule posed another challenge for the team. Construction was accelerated through procurement of multiple contractors. A JOC installed piping in the roadway. Another JOC installed the new well in advance of the other improvements. Both JOCs coordinated with the CMAR.

Connecting Scottsdale to Phoenix's water system required a 24"x60" live tap on RCP piping that was installed in 1949.

Thrust restraint and an emergency action plan ensured that the existing pipe remained in service. Unique, curved site walls used a mixture of block types including clear glass and CMU with different colored polished faces to create a signature mosaic and interior lighting.

Complexity

Schedule requirements added complexity to the project. The installation of piping within existing roads was accelerated ahead of a proposed road project using a separate design package. Reduced well output threatened to violate required superfund withdraws. An advance design package was prepared for the well. The construction was divided among two City JOCs and the project's CMAR contractor. An existing well discharge piping and a noise enclosure were moved from other City facilities to Pump Station 71. The existing electrical service was also extended to the new site instead of acquiring a new service. Although it complicated the design and construction, using existing assets made this project more sustainable, reduced costs, and shortened the schedule.

The Pump Station 71 facilities are surrounded by existing improvements. The tight site layout required access for different service and emergency vehicles. Construction efforts were constricted by the small site, tenants and adjacent homeowners. Obstruction of ambulances during construction was not allowed. The City property also shares a common wall with five homes. MGC Contractors coordinated parking, staging of materials, installations, and subcontractor work with EMT staff and homeowners.

The cities of Scottsdale and Phoenix worked closely together on this project. The cities coordinated extensively on the new connection to Phoenix's transmission line. This RCP pipe, installed in 1949, included two rebar cages and grouted butt joints. Installing a tapping sleeve and valve (TS&V) on this sensitive line required specialized procedures. These procedures required the following unique solutions:

Realignment of another water main to accommodate the TS&V.
Structural analysis of a thrust block that was poured against a box culvert.
A 24" gate valve installed on its side for the tapping and a butterfly valve added for typical shut downs.
Monitoring of the 60" main.

The two cities coordinated on the station's commissioning and start-up activities and notification and operating procedures for running the new booster station.

Contribution to Social or Economic Advancement

The design of the new facility shows the public how the City is doing more with less. The new site incorporates multiple uses into one site rather than four. The interconnect between the cities of Scottsdale and Phoenix illustrate their willingness to work together in the best interest of the public.

The proposed improvements have also boosted aesthetics and safety in the area. The original well and pump station were built in the 1950's immediately behind the sidewalk. This location interfered with the visibility triangle at an intersection and created a blemish within recently installed streetscape improvements. The new facility was installed several hundred feet south and the original site was finished with landscaping to blend with the rest of the new road corridor. A cluster of oleanders located along the eastern boundary of the project created a shelter for transients who routinely slept under them. In response to community concerns, the new station design replaced the oleanders with angular rock and decomposed granite, and fenced off the area with decorative steel fencing. Finally, the project included ADA compliant parking and ramps that provide access to a greater cross section of the public.

Click images to enlarge in separate window.


Preconstruction Well Site. Built in the 1950s, the original well and booster station was located directly behind the sidewalk and inside current visibility triangle guidelines. This original location also prohibited future commercial and economic growth in the area.	Preconstruction Facility Site. The original parking lot that served the EMT station, which is shown in the background, was removed to construct the new facility. This location moved the public works facility away from the Thomas Road and Miller Road intersection and freed up valuable commercial property.

Accelerated Offsite Improvements. A separate construction package was prepared to install the suction and discharge piping in Thomas Road and Miller Road ahead of the rest of the project. This work was performed by a City JOC prior to scheduled roadway improvements in Thomas Road as part of another City project. This photo illustrates the 24"x60" tapping sleeve used on a live connection to an existing Phoenix RCP transmission line that is nearly 70 years old.	Accelerated Well Improvements. During the design of the proposed facility, the existing well's performance started to decline. The design and construction of the well related improvements were accelerated ahead of the other work to ensure the minimum draw required by the surrounding Superfund project was maintained. This photo shows the well installed and operational prior to the rest of the facility. Temporary power was run from the existing well site 300'+ feet away to avoid utility delays.

New Suction Header and Pump Cans. Due to the small footprint of the new facility, the suction piping and pump cans had to be installed and backfilled before any other work or material deliveries could proceed.	Busy Site. This photo shows the discharge piping being installed in the foreground while the building conduit and reinforcing is installed on the right. In addition, the newly installed well was operational at the time (seen in the background).

Building Improvements. Once the buried improvements were in place, the building pad became the next governing effort. This photo shows crews tying steel for the building pad.	Masonry Work. This photo illustrates the front of the new building and its signature mosaic wall. The wall was created using colored enamel blocks placed in a pattern on curved walls to represent local desert ocotillo plants.

Dueling Trades. As masonry work wrapped up on the building and moved to the facility's site walls, interior pipe installation began.	Masonry Work. This photo illustrates the front face of the building immediately after its completion. The wall included a mixture block types including clear glass and CMU with polished faces and different colors of thermoset glazing to create its unique pattern and interior lighting. Each block type had a slightly different width and size that had to be accounted for during the masonry work to insure the wall joints appeared uniform and neat.

Pump Room. This photo shows the pump room near completion. The facility's pumps and air compressor were placed in the new building to reduce noise and exposure. The pump room temperature is controlled using an evaporative cooler. The room also includes sprinklers for fire protection.	Electrical Room. This photo shows the electrical room near completion. The electrical room temperature is controlled using an air conditioner. It is protected from fires using an FM-200 system.

Hydropneumatic Tank. While most of the facility's equipment is housed in the new building, the hydropneumatic tank, which protects the station from potential transient damage, was placed in the yard to reduce the building's footprint and cost.	Well and Odor Control. This photo shows the Superfund well site and its recycled noise enclosure and discharge piping. The piping was moved from the original well and the enclosure was moved from another City facility. The odor control chemical storage and pumps are shown in the background.

New Parking Lot. This photo was taken just before the new lot was paved. Prior to its demolition, the original well and booster station was located where the truck is parked. The area is now a parking and a landscaping buffer between the new lot and Thomas Road and Miller Road.	New ADA Compliance and Air Quality. The site improvements surrounding the existing EMT and City office building included ADA compliant parking and new access ramps leading to the building's main entrance. The equipment shown on top of the existing building is a Maricopa County air quality monitoring station. MGC coordinated with the County during construction on their dust control measures.
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Finished Western Elevation. This photo was taken from Miller Road and shows the front entrance to the public works facility. The site frontage was limited to maximize the size of the developable property to the north. A man gate was installed within the vehicle gate so operators don't have to open the vehicle gate to enter the site.	Finished Southern Elevation. This photo was taken from the Coronado Golf Course south of the new facility. It shows how the mosaic on the front of the building wraps around its sides. The landscaping shown in the foreground is over a drainage swale and utility easement.

Finished Southwest Corner. In addition to the thermoset glazing mosaic, the building's walls include glass block set in a pattern to securely maximize natural light in the electrical room and pump room.	Finished Aerial. This aerial photo shows all of the City property and how the new improvements wrapped around the existing building. The new water and wastewater facility was built on the south and the new parking lot was built on the north.